Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy (2010)

Starring: Wes Craven, Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp, any other cast and crew who wanted to talk about the Elm Street films and didn’t have anything better to do

Directed by: Daniel Farrands, Andrew Kasch (His Name was Jason; Scream: The Inside Story; Tales of Halloween)

Synopsis: Documentary about the A Nightmare on Elm Street film franchise featuring Freddy.

What works:

• One of the most comprehensive documentaries about film you’re likely to see. And it has to be, since it covers 7 movies.
• Everyone interviewed is pretty candid. They don’t just provide lip service about how they tried their best. They discuss flaws and all, and that makes it much more interesting and entertaining to watch. Well, except for maybe one person (see below).
• Everyone talking about the gay undertones (the most prominent undertones in film history) of A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge is hysterical. Although not quite as good as the full-length video commentary that Brad and I recorded that YouTube won’t allow us to upload. But that segment is definitely the highlight.
• I liked that they not only discussed the films themselves, but the whole cultural phenomenon that Freddy became in the late ’80s. You couldn’t pull down your pants to take a piss back then without seeing a Freddy glove. It even covers the TV series Freddy’s Nightmares pretty thoroughly. 
• John Saxon and Alice Cooper!!

What doesn’t work:

• Robert Englund, who needs no introduction (he played Freddy), is probably the one person aside from maybe Wes Craven that you want to hear talk about the franchise, and he’s probably the worst interviewee. He seems like a genuinely nice person, and that’s the problem, he’s basically the only one who blows sunshine up the ass of every one of the movies, even 5 and 6. It’s like he’s afraid to come right out and say things sucked. He even praises some of the worst actors to appear in the franchise. Maybe he needs the Freddy makeup to let his negative personality shine through.
• No Johnny Depp, Patricia Arquette, or Peter Jackson (who wrote a cool-sounding script for Freddy’s Dead that was rejected in favor of the garbage they ended up using). Or Yaphet Kotto. Or that big shot Breckin Meyer!!

Overall: If you like the Elm Street films on any sort of level then you really should check out this documentary. Some missing cast members aside, they barely skimp on nary a detail about the whole franchise, the good, the bad, and the Dream Child. However, it’s as long as half a night’s sleep at 4 hours, so you’ll probably have to watch it over two or three days. Or you could do it in one day if you’re desperately lonely, and say a silent, rhyming prayer before you go to sleep that Freddy Krueger will visit you in your dreams, because that is the only way you’ll ever have any sort of companionship.

Score: 8.5 dream warriors (out of 10)